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"Shut Up, Little Man!"

A documentary about two young punks living in a crappy apartment next door to two elderly men who spend most of their time yelling at each other. What kids heard was so outrageous they began recoding it, compiling an amazing collection of audio tapes that have entertained people for more than two decades. Opens Aug. 26. (Published Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011)

Back in the late '80s two guys from Queens, known collectively as The Jerky Boys, gained a shocking amount of fame--including a feature film--for the tape recordings of prank calls they made to all manner of unsuspecting victims. But two years before they began doing their thing, two other young guys, Eddie and Mitch, living in San Francisco began taping the old men in the apartment next door, creating an even more insane library of audio tapes that were all too real. "Shut Up Little Man!" is their story.

From the film's official synopsis:

The phenomenon began in 1987 when Eddie and Mitch (two young punks from the Mid West), moved next door to Peter Haskett (a flamboyant gay man), and Raymond Huffman (a raging homophobe). This ultimate odd-couple hated each other with raging abandon, and through the paper-thin walls their alcohol-fueled rants terrorized Eddie and Mitch. Fearing for their lives they began to tape record evidence of the insane goings on from next door.

Despite the recordings being made in the analog age, the tapes managed to go viral, and spawned CDs, comics and plays. It's a jaw-dropping compilation of vitriol, the likes of which can only be achieved organically in the wild. You can't fake how much these to hated each other.